October 4, 2012

“I’m going to say something controversial here... Obama arrived in Denver at 2:00 p.m. today, just a few hours before the debate started. Romney did his debate prep in Denver. When you go to 5,000 feet and you only have a few hours to adjust — I don’t know, maybe....”

I've also heard that Obama has trouble when you rouse him at 3 a.m. with a telephone call.

And don't bring up the writing on the pajamas. I'm cautioning against that sort of thing now. Stay upbeat, Romney people. Romney sounded like Reagan last night. He's full of optimism and energy. He can speak cogently for 2 hours in the mile-high city, and he can, I presume, answer the phone in the middle of the night.

AND: Just because we're talking about Al Gore and screwing up debates, I want to show you what I find the funniest presidential debate moment of all time:

Bush's head nod is epic, and if you ever want to make me laugh, just look at me with Gore-y triumph and ask "What about the Dingell-Norwood bill?"

Al Gore is such an idiot. In his "home" state of Tennessee, thousands of people regularly drive from 1,000 feet to 5-6,000 feet in the Smoky Mountains each year without any mental debilitation (maybe millions, 14 million visit the park each year).

Oh, wait, I think I did see a sign along the highway warning of falling IQs ahead.

Obama didn't seem to have any problem giving his acceptance speech in Denver last time.

Or maybe Obama needs to borrow an excuse for why he wasn't prepared from his near-Chicago pal, Joliet Jake:

Honest... I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD.

As someone who went to college from a low altitude town to a high altitude town, I can tell you that it takes about two weeks for the body to adjust. It doesn't happen in the short time that Romney was in Denver.

The effects of oxygen deprivation also show up in times of physical exertion, not standing at a podium and talking.

Now, that Obama may have been off his feed for a mild case of food poisoning, or some other gastrointestinal distress, that I would believe. He sorta looked it.

>: You miserable slug! You think you can talk your way out of this? You betrayed me.>: No I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas! I--I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

Those of you who are pleased with these seemingly exciting new ways to make excuses for Obama are losing perspective. You are not thinking about how you look to the people you need to convince. Here’s a clue: You look ugly.

I hope someone is compiling a list of explanations for Obama's performance. The human brain's ability rationalize is awesome to behold.

I especially like the ones from Andrew Sullivan's readers saying Obama deliberately threw the debate in order to get Rebublicans to divert resourses from tight congressional races back to the Romney campaign.

5K feet isn't hard. Sorry. Not even for a fellow from sea level. He's not performing an athletic sport and even there it's mostly an accumulative benefit for training at altitude. You don't adjust in a day or two in any case.

Even completely sedentary persons like myself don't feel the altitude until 8K.

A typical cabin altitude, such as the Boeing 767's, is maintained at 6,900 feet (2,100 m) when cruising at 39,000 feet (12,000 m).[2]

Obama, flying between such disparate locations as Las Vegas and some place called Madison, has surely spent more time at altitude than at sea level. This is just further proof, in case you needed any, that Algore is a gold-plated idiot.

It was just the strain of looking presidential and not being prepared, so that he could not go into campaign mode.

It is a besetting sin of the left that they believe the world's ills are due to the evil rich, so that if they can just get rid of, or at least sideline the kulaks and their henchmen, the inborn virtues of "the common people" will come to the fore, and the government will just naturally run itself very nicely.

This has been how Obama has run his administration; he just has not bothered to keep up with exactly what everybody has been doing around him, and he is not prepared to either defend what has been done or state any specifics as to what should be done next.

I think that for the next debate, he will say the heck with this presidential stuff, and go back to 2007 mode.

This is a ludicrous defense from Gore, but all of the pundits who blurted out the obvious win by Romney are now retrenching and coming out with a Robust Counteroffensive to be consummated within 24 hours. Fact Checkers who think they really are arbiters are crying LIAR. This is about to get nasty.This has just awakened a sleeping giant, the MSM, and it will make the one-sided Libya coverage look pale by comparison. Pravda would be proud of the US media in the next 30 days.

I lived in Colorado for 26 years at an elevation higher than Denver. I arrived just after graduation from Officer Training School where I was running 5 miles a day. The first time I tried to run at elevation, I thought I was going to die. That never happened just when I was standing and talking.

That said, the elevation at Las Vegas is around 2000 feet. The cabin pressure altitude in Air Force One at cruising altitude is around 8000 feet. If altitide was a factor, then it shows Romney was smarter than Obama by getting there earlier to have more time to get used to the altitude.

schmidt said... Romney 4.0 - how's the Tea Party going to like this re-invention? Or is just winning good enough? Was this version really the nominee?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FYI, this nonsense does not work with adults, for any adult person knows that one has potential of learning and gaining experience through the life. I would rather have a flexible person, than cut in stone ideologue, as executive in chief; and I bet so will you when you grow up.

If you're going to debate Romney, you know that Romney will be prepared. He's a prepared kind of guy. (That's a big part of competence.) You should know that Romney will have bullet points memorized for every single Democratic campaign talking point. You should know that he's not going to be flustered. You should be studied and ready to go.

Romney 4.0 - how's the Tea Party going to like this re-invention? Or is just winning good enough? Was this version really the nominee?

Looks like somebody's channeling Little Black Jesus. From Reuters:

"When I got onto the stage, I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney," Obama said.

"But it couldn't have been Mitt Romney, because the real Mitt Romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. The fellow on stage last night said he didn't know anything about that."

Excuses and lies. That's all the crackhead in chief has left.

Well, that and Chicago dirty tricks. Expect a cup of coffee to show up on Mitt's campaign bus in a day or two. . .

Perhaps Obama's debate strategy was not to "win" the popular perception of the debate itself, but to bait Romney into making statements that can be used in attack ads that more people will see than watched the debates. Is the first post-debate ad out yet?

Obama says there is a tax benefit to countries who outsource jobs overseas, but in reality it's that companies who make money overseas with overseas workers don't pay US taxes on all of those earnings. Which makes sense. It isn't a benefit, it's that the companies are penalized for being US companies.

I can't think of the last time Obama demonstrated he had a lot of facts at his command, or a lot of patience for explaining himself or disagreeing with others.

There was that time he hid behind the podium at the Republican policy retreat, berating Paul Ryan while giving him no chance to respond. Then there was that other time during the State of the Union where he invited the Democrats in the Chamber to stand and jeer the Supremes. Classy.

I'm shocked that Lehrer didn't bring up the 47% comment. Obama could have really eviscerated Romney on that. Don't believe he will make that same mistake at the Oct 16th town hall debate. Imagine the boos Romney will get!

In hang gliding, getting only to 5000' is a bit of a disappointment. We regularly fly above 10K, and even up to 18k occasionally without oxygen, although we usually use it over 12k. That's while hand flying and navigating an aircraft with your life on the line.

If it wasn't for the obvious ass kicking courage of asking "What about the Dingell-Norwood bill?", I'd say Gore is a pussy. He certainly thinks the President is. He may be right this time.

Perhaps Obama's debate strategy was not to "win" the popular perception of the debate itself, but to bait Romney into making statements that can be used in attack ads that more people will see than watched the debates. Is the first post-debate ad out yet?

Yes, it is. I don't know how to link it, but it's up at the Ace Of Spades blog. It's called "What A Guy" and basically tries to show Romney was a big meanie for not letting Jim Lehrer cut him off before he could finish making a point. Truly weaksauce.

“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”

How'd you like to be that guy's debate coach? I actually feel sorry for John Kerry having to play sparring partner.

My favorite part is where Gore went up and suddenly slumped dramatically grabbing his crotch then abruptly shifted the slump to the opposite angle in a threatening stance, gett'n real all ghetto up in there. "Wudabow dinglebells?"

Umm... Yeah... I guess Obama shouldn't ever fly anywhere on Air Force One and then have to make any real decisions... The Airbus A380 has the highest cabin pressure (lowest "altitude" of any commercial aircraft)--much higher than the older model 747 used as Air Force One--and it's cabin equivalent altitude is pretty much equal to Denver's real altitude. The older model 747s--as opposed to the new 747-8--is more like being in Summit County, CO and one of the ski resorts.

It's not a controversial thing for Gore to say. It's an absolutely moronic and pathetic thing for him to say.

Although maybe this will introduce a new standard for presidential elections: High-Altitude Decision-Making. Perhaps we can cut the field of candidates down to just those from the Mountain States like CO, WY, MT, and Idaho or with a certain number of flight hours as a jet pilot to ensure that our POTUS can perform his job adequately while aboard an aircraft.

Larry J said... I lived in Colorado for 26 years at an elevation higher than Denver. I arrived just after graduation from Officer Training School where I was running 5 miles a day. The first time I tried to run at elevation, I thought I was going to die. That never happened just when I was standing and talking.

My 14 year old step-daughter's soccer team can go from Phoenix (1,200 ft) to Flagstaff (6,900 ft) and play a weekend soccer tournament with no one being hospitalized. (At least not due to the altitude) Granted, it's not easy and they never do well against the local girls, but it's not really that much of a problem.

Hell, the Cardinals hold thier summer camp on the NAU campus (smack in the middle of Flagstaff) to beat the Phoenix heat!

I'm very sure that the Bain attack ads will go into overdrive now. I think this is where Romney is very weak with swing voters

Alex, does this require a sarcasm tag? Urkel spent over $100 million on Bain capital attack ads and failed. He's spent over $300 million to date on Romney attack ads and has failed. Since it isn't his money, he doesn't care.

It's the nod but it's also Gore's inability to take a joke. "What about the Dingell-Norwood bill?" was a go-to joke around my place for a long time after this debate for people who had lost or were in the process of losing a debate point.

Between Al Gore, John Edwards, and The Lightworker, I just can't believe the kind of people The Democrats allow to get so close to the Presidency of the United States. Poseurs, idiots, liars and crooks. Geeze, would you guys take this serious. It's the most powerful position in world history!

Last winter, my daughter, 15 years old at the time, went from 541 foot elevation Kentucky to 8,800+ Crested Butte, CO and went skiing for a week without a hitch. Her 50 year old smoker mother (my ex) had to get an oxygen tank. (Snicker)

According to the analysis, the revised Dingell-Norwood bill exposes employers to virtually all the same suits allowed under the original legislation, but with even fewer limits on liability. For example:

In addition to creating a far reaching set of federal and state personal injury suits that are nearly unlimited and cover any claim for benefits, the legislation also allows new federal suits relating to plan administration. For the first time, the new bill allows personal injury lawsuits for even simple errors in the administration of the COBRA continuation of coverage requirements, and the preexisting conditions limitations established in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). It allows unlimited compensatory and punitive damages under both federal and state law.

The expanded liability provisions in the latest Dingell-Norwood proposal would force many employers, especially small businesses, to stop offering health care coverage to their employees rather than face the risk of a ruinous lawsuit. Even if they are not sued directly, employers and their employees will still face higher costs resulting from the flood of new lawsuits into the health care system. Either way, if this bill passes more than a million people would lose their insurance (CBO, Lewin Group).

Yeah, that's what Al. Now get out of my face.

I'm surprised that Gore didn't say that Obama was still in shock given the new "five million deaths per year" being caused by climate change BD being pushed by the Left.Oh, the humidity!

Meth - isn't Obama leading in many battleground states because of the Bain attack ads? I think they've been very effective and you'll see another $100 million worth.

Only if you believe the bullshit polls on those specific attack ads which have resulted in reality to be very little to no ROI against them. When you take a look at who is a customer of Bain capital you quickly realize that those ads are bullshit. Even the Romney killed my wife ad has had such a negative backlash against Urkel, that they've essentially stopped running them altogether. Now I'm in California, so we aren't really seeing any presidential campaign ads at all. If Romney or Urkel thought that either was in play, then I'm sure money would start pouring in.

He was playing a montage of Jim Lehrer trying to help Obama during the debate, practically begging him to respond to the questions better than he was. It was pretty sad. Lehrer clearly felt sorry for him.

I have to agree with Ann on the Gore moment. That was a huge "Gore lost me" moment for me. I'm a native Tennessean. I had voted for his father and him for the Senate. I was willing to give Li'l Al a chance, but when he attempted the high school bully act it ended right then and there.

Although I didn't like his compassionate conservatism, his failure to rein in spending and earmarks in the GOP congress and his willingness to sign whatever the democrat congress put in front of him starting in 2007 (that resulted in the economic downturn the then-Senator Obama helped create), I never stopped liking and respecting W, the best c-in-c of all those I have/will serve under.

NA: Although I didn't like his compassionate conservatism, his failure to rein in spending and earmarks in the GOP congress and his willingness to sign whatever the democrat congress put in front of him starting in 2007...

Unfortunately, except for the Iraq Surge, that was pretty much W's whole second term.

I was qualifying with another ranger who prepped me by letting me know what a crack shot he was. I shot a perfect 300; he, in the 270s. The problem was that he "was used to qualifying at night." There was just too much light to fire a Smith and Wesson competently.

Think of it from his perspective. He's been given progressively higher awards and accolades for his entire life without working all that hard. Not much effort at Punahou got him in to Occy; not much effort there into Columbia; didn't have to outwork people in undergrad to reach HLS; didn't have to be burdened with the normal work the rest of the students did to have professors extol his brilliance decades later; didn't have to set the Illinois legislature on fire to reach the US Senate; didn't have to do much as a Senator to become President.

Now you want the man who became the best writer ever to inhabit the White House without writing anything past some crappy undergrad poetry, the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize and Attendance Ribbon, to miss SportsCenter because he has to put on a tie and stand next to another old white guy and let people gaze in awe at his brilliance again? What kind of sense does that make?

The local Dem party citadel has the hammer and sickle flag at half staff today.The Lefties have been moaning today about Comrade Urkel looking bad due to poor moderation by Jim Lehrer, Romney's duplicity, Obama's excessive intellectualism [??], etc. Al Gore, however, clearly wins the award for the lowest depths of Commie pussyhood-- gutless as well as dickless, no?

At least Liberals are consistent. Why should Obama take responsibility for his stunningly abysmal debate performance last night when it can be blamed on something else? Al Gore has decided that Obama’s squirming, hand-staring, and off-topic, straw man rambling was due to the high altitude of Denver.

So, in other words, we have a leader of the free world who can’t function at 5,000 feet. That’s reassuring to know. Maybe Obama’s next campaign promise will be to remain at sea level for the next four years.

I live in a town that's 1,000 feet higher than Denver. It takes more than a day to acclimate. I was short of breath, easily winded, and dehydrated for about three weeks after moving here. Romney's arrival a short time earlier than Obama would not give him an advantage.

But maybe both candidates should have prepped at the Olympic training center here in town? That's why the athletes do it! When you're acclimated here then descend to lower elevations, you have super-human strength! They would have been knock-outs for Florida.

One unfortunate thing about the elevation, though, is seeing concerts. There is a gorgeous venue called Red Rocks outside of Denver that's our doors and set into the mountain. Really spectacular. But every single band that performs there can't cope with the altitude and has to complain half-way through the concert about being out of breath. The vocalists especially hate it because they get light-headed and the dry air makes it difficult to sing.

Going into work today, EVERYONE was buzzing about the debate. Even the liberals. The buzz on the right was everything Romney said; the buzz on the left was everything Obama didn't say. Not a good sign being mostly remembered for what you didn't say. It hints at Eastwood's critique: The absence is the essence.

Bush did not need tutoring from Naomi Wolf in manliness. I bet Gore nearly shit his drawers when W gave him that little nod. Smashed like a bug, all Gore had wit to do was ask again about Dingell-Norwood. All while trying not to soil his undies.

Please don't get me wrong. Romney was impressive. Obama had to know it was going badly and he still didn't pull out the 47%. I think he was pulling his punches. Two debates left and Obama is now the underdog.

That's because it's not the weapon you think it is. The Democtrats crafted that issue by talking to people that don't pay taxes. They created TV ads based on that. But when they met someone who did pay taxes--even Dems--they found those people sided with Romney, and more than a little at that. That's why Dems pulled those ads. And Romney never been given a chance to fully explain what he was saying--the media has been taking a snippet out of context. Romney can surely go on and make his case and Obama doesn't want him to get a chance to do that--especially with the huge audience of last night's debate. Do you think he can blindside Romney with that--last night or ever? I bet he can give you a quick fifteen minutes on the topic in his sleep.

Same reason Obama doesn't hit him with the "you're going to take away womens' contraceptives"--because Romeny doesn't want to do any such thing. He fully supports contraception and never said otherwise. And I'm sure that Romney will be able to fully explain how Obama was stepping on the Constitution by making the Catholic Church fund something for employees that goes against its Doctrine.

Politico is on the ball this morning, desperately trying to back fill answers for Obama for the debates to try and hurt Romney. Note the list of things Politico wishes Obama had talked about.

I also find it odd to say Romney dominated the clock/controlled the debate. He spoke less, had fewer chances to speak over all, and was forced to fight for time more frequently. The only reason he had control is that Lehrer and Obama relinquished it while talking over him. Remember: Obama talked more but said less.

"Indeed, by Thursday morning, Obama already was taking a different tack on the campaign trail, assailing Romney at a rally in Denver for misrepresenting his policy positions and not having shown the American people “the real Romney” in last night’s debate.

“Gov. Romney may dance around his positions. But if you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth,” Obama said."

-- In short, Obama is a coward and unwilling to challenge Romney face-to-face, but prefers to lie about his opponent when they cannot fight back. Something that Paul Ryan and the Supreme Court are intimately familiar with.

W seemed like a decent guy, but small-guv he wasn't, thus I don't recall him as fondly as conservatives and view him more soberly like libertarians do. He did admirably in dealing with the wake of 9/11, though. Gore would've been a disaster in those circumstances.

I'm rough on Mitt for being light on charisma and succinct communication skills, but seeing Gore's mug again made me remember how piss-poor his charisma and political instincts were. And still are. Gore was more wooden on the stump than an actual stump.

My favorite George W. Bush is not a pussy moment was when he had the shoes thrown at him. He bats them out of the way like nothing and has his eye on the attacker the whole time. Brilliant!

I am a big fan of GWB the man. Comparing him to the likes of Gore, Kerry and Obama just brings a sad shake of the head at all the pathetic frailty and nuttiness of the competition. Sadder still that anyone, anywhere actually takes them seriously.